Sandager: How is the sequester affecting you?

Economists disagree on the consequences of the budget cuts

12:40 AM,
Mar. 16, 2013

Written by

JIM SANDAGER, MBA, CFP

It's been more than two weeks since it officially happened, and have you forgotten already? That probably depends on where you live and work, whether it hurts you personally, hurts your friends and neighbors, or doesn't affect you at all.

The sequester is the $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over 10 years that Congress set up in the summer of 2012 when it couldn't agree on deficit reduction in return for raising the debt ceiling. Lawmakers set up automatic cuts and tax increases to take effect if they couldn't agree before the end of 2012. In other words, it's the first $85 billion ...